Segmentation by Example

We describe an algorithm for segmenting a novel image based on the available segmentation of another image. The algorithm consists of two stages. In the first stage we construct a locally connected graph to represent the novel image. This graph is obtained by inheriting local connectivity between pixels based on the similarity of small neighborhoods in the two images. In the second stage a graph parititioning algorithm is used to partition the graph and recover the resulting segments in the image. We present experimental results on synthetic and real images and conclude with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the method.